The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a status quo on ongoing eviction and demolition drives in Uriamghat and nearby villages of Assam’s Golaghat district, providing temporary relief to more than 2,000 Bengali Muslim families who have lived in the area for decades.
A bench comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and Atul S. Chandurkar issued the interim order while hearing a petition that challenged the Gauhati High Court’s refusal to protect the affected residents. The petitioners approached the apex court after the High Court dismissed their writ appeals and upheld the state government’s eviction measures.
The families argued before the court that they are long-settled residents who have been in uninterrupted possession of the land for over 70 years. They pointed to state-issued documents such as ration cards, electricity connections, and inclusion in electoral rolls as evidence of legal recognition. According to them, the eviction violates provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, and the Assam Rules of 2015. They further contended that the state’s actions infringe upon their fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19, 21, 25, and 300-A of the Constitution.
Authorities, however, justified the operation by citing the Assam Forest Regulation, 1891, claiming that the villages fall within the Doyang and South Nambar Reserved Forests. Eviction notices issued in July 2025 gave residents just seven days to vacate.
This large-scale eviction is part of one of Assam’s most high-profile operations, aiming to clear nearly 15,000 bighas (4,900 acres) of land in the Uriamghat area. Since June 2025, the government has evicted over 3,500 families in five separate drives across four districts, displacing nearly 50,000 people.
The operations have often been controversial. In Goalpara district, where 1,080 families were evicted in July, violence erupted on July 17 when protests turned deadly. Police firing killed a 19-year-old Muslim youth and injured several others, including security personnel.
This story was originally published in muslimmirror.com. Read the full story here.